Leslie was a Confederate sympathizer during the Civil War, but began to adopt a more progressive position during his gubernatorial campaign against Harlan. Though he opposed ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, he used his influence as governor to effect passage of laws admitting the testimony of blacks in court and providing for an educational system for recently freed slaves. He also helped quell violence perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan in many areas of the state.

As territorial governor of Montana, Leslie quickly drew the ire of the press for his pro-temperance position. The territory's political machinery also turned against him, and he was removed from office by President Benjamin Harrison. When Grover Cleveland succeeded Harrison for a second term in office, he appointed Leslie district attorney for Montana. Leslie continued to practice law well into his eighties, and was being considered for a district court judgeship in Montana when he fell ill with pneumonia and died on February 7, 1907, at the age of 87.

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Preston Leslie was born in Clinton County, Kentucky (then a part of Wayne County), on March 8, 1819. He was the second son of Vachel H. and Sarah Hopkins Leslie. He was educated in the public schools, then studied law under Judge Rice Maxey. He worked with his father on the family farm until 1835, and supported himself by doing odd jobs including driving a stagecoach, running a ferry, and being store clerk.[1] Leslie was admitted to the bar on October 10, 1840, and served as the deputy clerk of the Clinton County courts. In 1841, he relocated to Tompkinsville, Kentucky, where he worked as a farmer. He became county attorney of Monroe County in 1842.[1]

On November 11, 1841, Leslie married Louisa Black; they had seven children. Louisa died on August 9, 1858. Leslie married the widowed Mary Maupin Kuykendall on November 17, 1859, fathering three more children.[2] Mary Leslie died September 3, 1900.[3]

By 1861, Leslie had built up a prosperous estate and added a plot of land in Texas to his holdings in Kentucky. In December of that year, he and his eldest son traveled to the property with 26 slaves and a large part of the family's possessions. After establishing his household, Leslie returned to Kentucky and left the Texas estate in the care of his son.[5]

Leslie's feelings were mixed on the issues central to the Civil War. Known as a "strong Union man" prior to the war, his sympathies switched to the southern cause once the war began. Nevertheless, he believed the South should solve its differences with the North through diplomatic means, and did not favor the idea of secession. He kept a low political profile and refused military service for either side. He returned to the state Senate from 1867 to 1871, serving as president of that body from 1869 to 1871.[6]

During the campaign, Leslie's opponent RepublicanJohn Marshall Harlan was blasted as a "political weathercock" for having changed his stance on many issues.[9] In one joint debate, Leslie quoted an antebellum speech wherein Harlan had called the Republican platform "revolutionary, and if carried out, would result in the destruction of our free government."[9] Harlan admitted his inconsistent stands, declaring that he would rather be right than consistent.[9] Meanwhile, Leslie began moving closer to the "New Departure" wing of his party during the course of the campaign.[10] Ultimately, Leslie's supporters deemed him "sober, conservative, and safe", and this perception enabled him to defeat Harlan by a considerable margin in the first election in which blacks were allowed to vote.[6]

Leslie laid out an aggressive legislative agenda in his inaugural address to the General Assembly on September 5, 1871, but legislators were more concerned with passing the Southern Railroad bill that would create a connection between the railroads of Cincinnati, Ohio, and those of the Southern United States. The line would pass through central Kentucky, opening up trade to the region. It would be funded primarily by capital from Ohio, and would provide competition to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad's monopoly in the state. Though Leslie wasn't particularly supportive of the bill, he refused to veto it because of the potential economic benefits to the state.[11] Leslie was also faced with the issue of post-war violence by the Ku Klux Klan.[12] The legislature had refused to pass a law against mob violence in 1871.[12] In his address to the legislature on December 6, 1871, Leslie endorsed legislation that made it illegal to write or post threatening notices and to band together and wear disguises.[12][13] This proposal enjoyed favorable public opinion, and was passed during the legislature's next session.[14] With the railroad and violence issues resolved, Governor Leslie urged the legislature to improve the status of blacks in the state, including the creation of an educational system for blacks and the approval of the testimony of blacks in the state's courts. He commissioned a new geological survey, appointing native Kentuckian Nathaniel Southgate Shaler to head the work. An advocate of the temperance movement, he secured additional regulations on the sale of liquor. Also during Leslie's tenure, the penal system was improved.[15]

Devout Baptists and teetotalers, Governor and Mrs. Leslie did not serve alcohol in the governor's mansion and were given a silver service set at the expiration of his term by the Good Templars of Kentucky for their charity to the needy.[15] Following his term in office, Leslie was elected to serve on the Glasgowcircuit court, a position he held for six years, beginning in 1881. He failed in a re-election bid in 1886 by four votes.[2]

In 1887, PresidentGrover Cleveland appointed Leslie to be the Territorial Governor of Montana.[16] Cleveland made the appointment on the recommendation of John Marshall Harlan, Leslie's opponent in the Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1871, who was now serving as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.[17] Leslie soon ran afoul of the local press, who labeled him the "Coldwater Governor" for his stands in favor of temperance. The press's opinion of him further dimmed when he pardoned a prostitute convicted of grand larceny because the penitentiary was not equipped to accommodate women. He urged the territorial legislature to enact fiscal reforms and improve facilities for the insane and the incarcerated, but he was no match for the political machinery in Montana Territory. His 1889 pocket veto of an appointment bill supported by the legislature was the final straw; under pressure from Republicans, President Benjamin Harrison replaced Leslie as territorial governor.[16]

Meanwhile, in Kentucky, the state treasurer, "Honest Dick" Tate, had absconded with nearly $250,000 of the state's money in 1888. During the investigation that followed, it was discovered that Leslie, along with several other state officials, had procured personal loans from the state treasury through Tate.[18]

Following his removal from office, Leslie opened a legal practice in Helena, Montana, partnering with A. J. Craven.[17] President Cleveland in his second term appointed Leslie U.S. district attorney of Montana.[19] He served from 1894 to 1898.[19]

During his final years practicing law in Helena, Leslie gained widespread acclaim and served as president of the Montana State Bar Association.[2] On a return visit to Kentucky in 1906, he addressed the legislature, noting how he had helped the state adjust to the "new order" following the Civil War.[16]Montana governorJoseph Toole was circulating a petition to have Leslie named a district court judge when Leslie fell ill with pneumonia.[20] He died February 7, 1907 and was buried at Forestvale Cemetery in Helena.[16]